The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap 2013: Apple Snickerdoodles

A twist on a traditional cookie, these Apple Snickerdoodles are full of shredded apples, spices and loaded with flavor! They are the perfect cookie for your next cookie swap!

Today’s post is a special one. Yes, it includes pretty pictures. Yes, it includes a recipe. Yes, there’s a story. But, here’s where it gets good… this post and hundreds of others were involved in the 3rd annual Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap!

The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap pairs 4 amazing bloggers together to swap cookies with each other. Each person makes 1 dozen of their favorite cookie, packages it up and ships it off to the other 3 bloggers! And then the yummy part… three different types of cookies!

Oh… and this year we raised a butt-load of money for a great cause! $13,778.40 this year was raised and it’s all going to Cookies for Kids’ Cancer! This organization raises money for pediatric cancer research. Such a great cause! How sweet is that?

I had never heard of any of these bloggers before, so I was thrilled to be able to get to know them and their recipes! Each blogger is unique in style and type of recipes they like to post on their blog. Make sure you visit them to see what cookies they made for the swap!

The cookies I made are a twist on a traditional cookie. To make these Apple Snickerdoodles, I took a classic recipe and added shredded apple to the batter! The apple flavor was subtle, but really changed the entire dynamic of the cookie! They were deeeeelicious!

To decorate them for shipping, I packaged them in plastic bags and tied yellow curling ribbon at the top to close the bag. Then, I attached some cute tags that the Swap provided for us! Aren’t they cute?

So, if you need a cookie for a cookie swap, a teacher girl… or just a Tuesday afternoon, try these Apple Snickerdooles! You’ll really love them!

In the bowl of your stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar for about 2 minutes.

One at a time, add the eggs and mix until incorporated. Scrape the sides of the bowl and add the vanilla. Mix again.

In another bowl, whisk together the flour, cream of tartar, corn starch, baking soda, salt and nutmeg.

In two parts, add the flour to the wet mixture and mix on low until just combined.

Place the shredded apples on top of 3 paper towels and roll up. Squeeze out the juice of the apples as if you were wringing out a towel. (NOTE: You want the flavor of the apples, but not the juice from the apples in these cookies.) Fold in the apples.

Cover and chill in the freezer for 30 minutes or in the refrigerator for 2 hours.